Purpose This paper provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of scholarly literature on the economic dimensions of space tourism. It maps key themes, influential contributors, and evolutionary trends to reveal the intellectual structure of this emerging field, highlighting how economic research has evolved alongside technological advancements and identifying critical theoretical and practical gaps. Design/methodology/approach Using data from the Scopus database up to 2024, a final dataset of 357 documents was selected following the PRISMA framework. The study employs performance analysis and science mapping to examine publication trends, collaboration patterns, and citation impact. Findings The analysis indicates a field in an early, technology-driven stage, evidenced by the dominance of conference papers (64.15%) and a focus on Engineering (90.76%). Research output accelerated significantly after 2018, coinciding with the first commercial suborbital flights. While research is globally distributed, the United States and the United Kingdom show the highest citation impact. Thematic analysis identifies the “aerospace industry” as the field's conceptual nexus. A strategic diagram shows that while technical topics like “rockets” are motor themes, core commercial concepts such as “space tourism” and “commerce” are highly central yet theoretically underdeveloped. Research limitations/implications The study reveals a structural lag where technological maturity outpaces economic institutionalization, extending innovation diffusion theory by highlighting how high-capital and data-constrained industries experience delayed market formation. Practically, it signals a need for policymakers to move toward early-stage regulatory and sustainability frameworks before mass-market expansion. Industry stakeholders are encouraged to prioritize evidence-based pricing and risk-sharing models to ensure long-term commercial viability. Originality/value This study provides a systematic bibliometric mapping specifically focused on the economic and business dimensions of space tourism research. It fills a knowledge gap by quantitatively deconstructing the field's intellectual foundations and revealing the structural imbalance between its technological maturity and its economic development.
Samyal et al. (Tue,) studied this question.